An In-Depth Look at the Value of Handmade Producers

This has to start from the beginning. Recently, I had to order the same product separately from two craft producers. Both of them had roughly the same price and specifications. But product B came in a larger portion, so it felt like a better deal. That was when I observed something interesting. Aside from whether they liked the taste or not, I privately thought that most consumers probably could not tell the difference. In the end, it is easy to just use "price" to decide whether to buy. Of course, this is actually a very, very tacky way to behave, because craft producers cannot "use volume to determine price" the way commercial mass production does.

However, most consumers tend to be a rather tacky bunch (I am one example). Consumers who are willing to spend money on high-priced products are not nonexistent, but they are certainly not the majority. When I attended a food exhibition this year, a materials supplier explained to me how high-grade artificial vanilla extract is synthesized. The flavor can almost pass for the real thing, with the finesse and elegance of a vanilla pod, priced 20-30% cheaper than real vanilla pods, and nearly 40% more expensive than cheap vanilla extract.

Later, when I chatted with a snack producer, I asked whether he would use high-grade artificial vanilla extract. He said, of course not, because most consumers simply cannot taste the difference. This is truly a very sad thing, as if it were all the consumers' fault. Where the logic of "because consumers cannot taste it -> therefore there is no need to use good materials" comes from, I do not know, but what is certain is that we are all the victims. Going back to the craft producers I know, almost without exception, they are willing to use all kinds of good materials. Last time I tasted a dressing oil made in-house by a processed food factory, and a small bottle sold for 380 yuan. I stared at the price and asked the owner, is that not too expensive! The owner carefully explained the production process: organic scallions, organic ginger, and even the oil was organic-certified grapeseed oil. I liked the flavor but did not buy it. It was not that the ingredients were bad, nor that the flavor was bad, but simply that I thought an oil sauce used for mixing into rice or noodles did not need to cost 380 yuan a bottle.

The owner overlooked the fact that consumers have a "perceived value" for a product. That is, most people have a consensus range for how much a product is really worth. How much does a bowl of shredded pork noodles with pickled mustard greens cost? It depends on the restaurant's location, environment and ingredients? But shredded pork noodles with pickled mustard greens costing more than 150 yuan surely has to be special enough to sell!

As for some handmade products being sold too expensively, I think in the end it will fall under the natural law of market competition. Once, I heard a manufacturer desperately promoting a bottle of honey costing 1800 yuan. The manufacturer described the beekeeping process as arduous and difficult, saying that this honey was all obtained through their blood and sweat. A white-haired elderly gentleman who looked rather wealthy replied, my money was also obtained through blood and sweat. The implication was understood by everyone present.

So the role of craft producers who truly do things honestly and conscientiously is sometimes awkward. They are unwilling to use cheap, low-priced ingredients, but the quantity they purchase cannot be large enough to get good discounts. So they often have to face consumers like me asking, "Why is it so expensive?"
Most craft producers are not very good marketers, and they are not very good at talking (I think more often it is that they cannot be bothered to explain). An auntie who makes maltose by hand told me that what frustrates her most is encountering consumers who keep complaining it is expensive and demanding a lower price. "I have to watch that stove for six hours! I have to keep stirring constantly, and if I am not careful it burns!"
I asked her what she does when people haggle. The auntie replied helplessly, "Just smile!"
"Does smiling help?" I asked.
"It does not help! But if I do not smile, I want to scold people!" the auntie said.

In my mind, the value of craft producers comes from these things:

First, they strictly select the quality and source of food. Food safety is a basic requirement, and they go further to demand the terroir characteristics of food. Looking back, tracing ingredients this way supports local producers in Taiwan, China.
Second, they insist on their philosophy about food, using handwork and time to let food reveal its own flavor. They do not use chemical seasoning to steal time.

I have always felt that supporting craft producers is, in an era of commercialized production, maintaining a kind of original intention toward food. All things need time to grow, while a large amount of artificial products attempt to replicate good flavor with cheap ingredients and advanced food chemistry technology. We have lost our respect for slow handmade work, and in the end, it is actually instant-gratification thinking showing disrespect for all things.

Good craft producers need us to cherish them carefully. Indeed, we are spending money to buy the beautiful flavors they have exchanged for with their blood and sweat!